Performing Endpoint Forensics Investigation

Performing Endpoint Forensics Investigation

Overview

Cybersecurity skill for performing endpoint forensics investigation. Follows industry best practices and security standards.

When to Use

Trigger phrases:

• "performing endpoint forensics investigation"
• "Investigating a confirmed or suspected endpoint compromise requiring forensic an"
• "Collecting volatile and non-volatile evidence for incident response or legal pro"
• "Analyzing memory dumps for malware, injected code, or credential theft artifacts"

Use this skill when:

• Investigating a confirmed or suspected endpoint compromise requiring forensic analysis
• Collecting volatile and non-volatile evidence for incident response or legal proceedings
• Analyzing memory dumps for malware, injected code, or credential theft artifacts
• Reconstructing attacker timelines from endpoint artifacts (prefetch, shimcache, amcache)

Do not use this skill for live threat hunting (use EDR/SIEM) or network forensics.

When NOT to Use

• When you lack proper authorization for testing
• For production systems without change management
• When the task requires legal or compliance expertise beyond technical scope

Prerequisites

• Forensic workstation with analysis tools (Volatility 3, KAPE, Autopsy, Eric Zimmerman tools)
• Write-blocker for disk imaging (hardware or software)
• Secure evidence storage with chain-of-custody documentation
• Memory acquisition tool (WinPMEM, FTK Imager, Magnet RAM Capture)
• Administrative access to the target endpoint (or physical access)

Workflow

# Example: IOC detection
import re

IOC_PATTERNS = {
    "ip": r"\b(?:\d{1,3}\.){3}\d{1,3}\b",
    "domain": r"\b[a-z0-9-]+\.[a-z]{2,}\b",
    "hash_md5": r"\b[a-f0-9]{32}\b",
    "hash_sha256": r"\b[a-f0-9]{64}\b",
}

def extract_iocs(text: str) -> dict:
    return {k: re.findall(v, text) for k, v in IOC_PATTERNS.items()}

1. Plan Operations — Define objectives, scope, and success criteria for endpoint forensics investigation operations.
2. Prepare Environment — Set up tools, access, and data sources required for endpoint forensics investigation.
3. Execute Core Workflow — Perform the endpoint forensics investigation operations following established procedures.
4. Validate Results — Verify that results meet quality standards and objectives.
5. Report Findings — Document results, observations, and recommendations.
6. Follow Up — Track remediation actions and verify fixes where applicable.

Tools

• Analysis Platform — Data processing and visualization
• Collaboration Tools — Team coordination and knowledge sharing

Process

1. Reconnaissance — Gather target information, identify attack surface, enumerate services
2. Analysis/Exploitation — Execute the technique, analyze results, document findings
3. Reporting — Document IOCs, write findings, provide remediation recommendations

Verification

• All endpoint forensics investigation procedures executed completely and documented
• Findings validated against multiple data sources
• False positives identified and filtered
• Results documented with evidence and timestamps
• Recommendations provided with risk-based prioritization

Anti-Rationalization Table